Year of Plenty

Today was week 3 for the Millwood Farmers' Market. Antonio had the first pick of cherries for the season from Yakima and I scored some wildcrafted Montana morel mushrooms from Xiong's Garden. Most of the local farmers are still waiting for things to warm up for crops to come on. It felt more like a crisp fall day than late spring.

I love hanging out at the market, talking to people, meeting neighbors. At its best, a Farmers Market builds community and facilitates relationships. I experienced a great example of that today thanks to Jerry Tate from Tate's Honey Farm. We were chatting as we surveyed the mingling crowd and he pointed to a young child using a walker. With a sense of ownership and pride, he said, "Man he is doing so great." He went on to explain that the boy came to the market every week last year in a wheelchair. And, all of the sudden, I remembered. I remembered his mom's weekly ritual of pulling into the handicapped parking spot, and working for fifteen minutes to get him out of the car and situated in his mechanical chair. I remembered him being severely disabled, which is why I didn't recognize him, walking, head up, smiling.

I had a chance to talk to his aunt and mom, and learned that his name is Hayden. Turns out he has cerebral palsy and has been making pigrimages to Poland to get special physical therapy treatments. I don't know what they are doing but the progress is remarkable. He even has a web site; helphaydenwalk.net. His mom explained that he's the one that insists on coming to the market each week. If it weren't for Jerry faithfully manning his honey booth I would have missed out on this little neighborhood miracle.

In other news at the Goodwin house the girls are out of shoes. Lily ran a fun run tonight in her Crocs and won her age division. The hunt for used or Thai made shoes is on.

Craig Goodwin

I am a pastor, writer, and photographer in Spokane, Washington. All three vocations call for the discipline of paying attention to stories, people, and places. So that is my endeavor here - to look more closely and share some of what I see along the way.